True Meaning of a Dream
by icewater-angel1
Summary: Meru is plagued by a seires or dreams from a supposedly long dead wingly, she finds instructions in these dreams, and only after following them is it that the dream changes? Meru finds herself between a rock and a hard place, planning her wedding and brea


Meru turned around quickly; her garnet eyes scanned the land around her. There was no one there, and yet, she had felt a presence watching her. She tired to remember how she'd come to be in such a place.  
  
The lake, it was a place from her childhood, it was on the boarder of the Wingly forest, and few knew of the beautiful lagoon. She had come here, and only here when the events of her life seemed to overwhelm her.  
  
This time- she remembered- she had been with her parents, having lunch. Things are always changing though, and so their topic changed, and they asked questions. Thinking about them caused their words to wash over her again.  
  
"Meru, you've been engaged for years, when do you plan on hosting the wedding?"  
  
"You're tearing him apart keeping him waiting like this, he suffers can't you see it?"  
  
"You engagement has been too long already, we'll start your invitations tonight, what type of wedding did you have in mind?"  
  
"Have you put any thought into this?"  
  
'Of course I haven't put any thought into it!' Meru thought bitterly. 'I'm only seventeen; I shouldn't have to get married so soon. Once a Wingly woman marries all she does is cook and clean, there'll be no fun, no true laughter, no adventure. Only rules, chores, and taboos.'  
  
Meru sighed as she felt a hand brush several wet strands off her shoulder she turned around quietly to face Guaraha she took an involuntary step back finding him so close to herself.  
  
Stepping forward he wrapped his arms around her and held her close as he whispered to her. "It'll be okay, everything will be fine." Meru leaned into him, glad to have his arms around her. 'Maybe he's right, she thought, maybe it'll all be okay after all. Maybe I'm over reacting'.  
  
No sooner had she those thoughts that she felt something change, she glanced up, but it wasn't Guaraha anymore. Instead she was starring into the garnet eyes of another male Wingly, she would have known who it was without looking. She felt more comfortable with him, for a moment at least. His strong arms held her close to him until she stepped backwards, he wasn't holding her any longer, he wasn't forcing her to stay, and she took the chance, turned on her heel and ran.  
  
"What's wrong Meru? Have I really changed THAT much?" He asked smirking at her. She stopped running and stood for a moment, perfectly motionless.  
  
"You're dead." She stated simply turning around. "You're dead Lloyd!"  
  
"I didn't feel dead did I? I held you close Meru, I'm no ghost."  
  
Meru looked him up and down, No, he hasn't changed. "You're dead Lloyd." She said, tears blinding her vision. "I saw you, I watched you DIE, you're dead!" She started running again, she couldn't see, yet she managed to stay on the path. She didn't stop or slow down until she heard Lloyd's voice again.  
  
"Meru, would you please write a letter to Jent? Tell him I'm sorry I didn't think to write him sooner." His voice carried a sad note in it and it echoed over the water to her. 'Write to Jent?' The request puzzled her, and everything went black.  
  
~*~  
  
"Meru, are you alright?" Albert asked leaning forward and checking her temperature. 'She looks like she's seen a ghost.'  
  
"Huh?" Meru asked realizing she had been dreaming. "Oh, yeah I'm fine." 'It was that same dream again.'  
  
"Are you sure?" Albert asked as he raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Yeah, why shouldn't I be?" Meru asked suddenly curious on the subject.  
  
Albert was silent for a moment as he took a glass of water from a servant, thanked him and placed it in Meru's slightly shaking hands. "Well for one thing, you were party at a party. Are we really that old and boring?"  
  
"Oh Al I'm sorry!" Meru said sincerely sipping at her water. "You guys aren't boring. I just haven't been sleeping well lately. That's all." She said to assure him.  
  
"You never said we weren't old." Albert pointed out to his teenage friend.  
  
"Can't deny what's true Al, you know that!" Meru said hopping up and running off in the direction of the ball.  
  
"That's our Meru." Albert said quietly before he started after her.  
  
Meru however did not stay for long at the ball, only long enough to make sure everyone had seen her, then she ran silently upstairs to Albert's favourite room. A flickering torch mounted on the wall at a safe two metres from the bookshelves dimly lighted the library. Her finger traced along the third shelf of the last bookshelf. The one Albert had shown her, it was where he kept his books on Winglies. Dust accumulated on her finger, and she noted it must be because Albert had been so busy with planning the ball he hadn't been reading so often.  
  
Having found what she was looking for she picked up the book and flipped through to the table of contents, then found the section she was searching for. Letting her eyes adjust to the dimness of the room she began to quickly read through the ancient Wingly script. 'Funny she thought they never once asked me if I could read Wingly script, they always turned to Rose for that.'  
  
After having read through the second multiple times she closed the book quietly coughing slightly at the amount of dust the action had stirred up. Placing the book back on the shelf she stood up and stretched, deciding to start the letter right away ran quickly from the library and up a spiral staircase. Just as she thought she was safe of being questioned a guard stopped her outside the corridor to her room.  
  
"Milady Meru, What're you up too?" Jake asked falling back into common speech as Meru glared at him for calling her by such a title.  
  
"I'm going to bed, I don't feel to great." She mumbled quickly.  
  
"Is that what you want me to tell his Highness?" Jake questioned raising an eyebrow at the girl who was only four years younger than him.  
  
"OH! No, could you please tell him that; although I fully enjoyed myself at the anniversary ball I did not feel well enough to be able to participate in the rest of the event and that I am sincerely sorry that I shall miss the toasts but must retire to my quarters for the evening." Meru said quickly, and then at once wondered why she had given such a formal answer. 'Maybe I am sick, slipping up like that.'  
  
Jake shook his head slowly for a moment. "Meru you know just as well as I do if I tell my King that you said that he wouldn't believe me. What do you really want me to tell him?"  
  
Smiling she nodded. "Tell him I'm hitting the sack and I'll wake him up by being extra loud in the morning to make up for it!" Jake nodded and headed off whereas Meru stepped into her room and quickly shut and locked the door behind her. She then took out a roll of parchment and began to write in her best script. Not in common, or modern Wingly but in the ancient Wingly style.  
  
'Dear Jent,' She thought about what she would write before even touching the quill to the inkbottle. 'I'd like to apologize, first on Lloyd's behalf. He wishes you to know that he's incredibly sorry for not writing to you over the years. I too, am sorry for not having written to you thus far.' Pausing for a moment Meru realized she'd fallen straight back into old habits. 'Jent, in case anyone finds this I'm swapping back into the nicknames we used as kids, I'm sure they'd be able to figure out who is who but I'm not so sure as to translating to modern speech then to common. I'm engaged to Blitz, but I'm sure you know that already.  
  
Blitz is fine I suppose, but... well, I love him and all, but he's my best friend. Not the person I want to marry. If dating can ruin a friendship I'd hate to see how much damage marriage could cause. He's still as traditional as always. That's another reason to not marry him; it's custom to follow the man's ideals. Why am I writing this all out? You know this already. Well anyway I'm worried that when I marry Blitz everything will go by tradition, that he won't let me leave the forest and spend time with my friends. All the Winglies back home still seem to hold a grudge against me for dropping my studies.  
  
I wish I could say everything between Silver and I was great, but it isn't. Silver and I were getting along fine for a while, but he didn't like me starting my journey. That surprised me at first, but as the travel progressed I began to realize how right he was, it was as dangerous as he said it would be.  
  
Most or my friends right now are humans, I don't have code names for them so I'll just tell you about them in basic standings. Albert is the King of Serdio, yeah, that's right, he's the King. He's a real bookworm and does a great job running the country. He's married to Emille; it's their second anniversary.  
  
Then there's Dart, he's the leader, always has been. It's just a quality he's got. There's him and Shana, they're married, and it's their first anniversary today. They've been having weddings on the anniversary of our journey coming to a close.  
  
I don't have time to explain anything more tonight, I'm sorry. I'm running out of time, the music downstairs has stopped, which means they've moved onto the toasts, when they're done that Albert will come and make sure I'm alright. He always does when I'm 'not feeling well.'  
  
I want you to know, I'm sorry that you got so sick. Please, forgive me. That's been tearing me up inside since I was a child. It's why I dropped my studies, ran away from home and lived among humans as a result. I can hear them laughing, I have to go now, I'm sorry for not thinking to write sooner.  
  
P.S.: Is Silver with you? I have a hunch that he is, I guess I'll write a letter to him too; it can't do any harm right?'  
  
Having written that out Meru changed silently into some pyjamas Emille had given her for a gift. They were navy blue with a pattern of many types of stars and crescent moons. As soon as the ink was dry she folded the paper into horizontal thirds and slid it into a thick envelope, stashing it in a small drawer of the desk, on the left hand side.  
  
Blowing out the candle that had provided her with enough light for writing Meru dashed under the covers hearing footsteps drawing near. She closed her eyes and just as she wondered how to fake having one of her nightmares (to put on a believable act) she fell asleep and the thought escaped her mind.  
  
~*~  
  
"What's wrong Meru? Have I really changed that much?" He asked smirking at her. She stopped running and stood for a moment, perfectly motionless.  
  
"You're dead." She stated simply turning around. "You're dead Lloyd!"  
  
"I didn't feel dead did I? I held you close Meru, I'm no ghost."  
  
Meru looked him up and down, 'No, he hasn't changed'. "You're dead Lloyd." She said, tears blinding her vision. "I saw you, I watched you die, you're dead!" She started running again, she couldn't see, yet she managed to stay on the path. She didn't stop or slow down until she heard Lloyd's voice again.  
  
"Meru, would you please write a letter to Jent? Tell him I'm sorry I didn't think to write him sooner." His voice carried a sad note in it and it echoed over the water to her. 'Write to Jent?' The request puzzled her, suddenly she was aware in her dream. This time she controlled her actions.  
  
"Lloyd I already wrote the letter, I just finished." She said quietly turning around to face him, expecting him to be back where she had started running only to find him about five feet away from her.  
  
"I know you did, but he doesn't know that." Lloyd said shaking his head. "You have to actually send the letter Meru. He has to know he wasn't abandoned."  
  
"I- I never thought of it that way, I understand now."  
  
"Do you?"  
  
Meru nodded in reply. "But, how would I go about sending the letter to  
him?"  
  
Lloyd looked like he was going to laugh but didn't, instead he  
answered her in a calm steady voice. "The answer to that is in the  
same book, seven pages later."  
  
"How do you know that?"  
  
"Good bye now Meru." At his words, the familiar change of complete darkness overwhelmed her, forcing her back into the realm of the living.  
  
~*~  
  
"Meru?" A voice said as someone relit the candle.  
  
"Meru, Are you alright?" There was a second voice, this one was Dart. Shana and Dart, that's who it was. Opening her eyes Meru glanced around quietly.  
  
"Yeah I'm fine why?" She asked quietly, putting a hand to her head. 'Feels like someone bashed me with my own hammer.' She thought frowning.  
  
"Well, Shana came to get me." Dart said in a whisper as if he was afraid to speak any louder. "She said you were muttering Wingly in your sleep, so we got Albert and came up." Albert waved from behind Dart as if making his presence known.  
  
"And then you screamed, so we all came." Emille added before Meru sat up and saw that everyone was in her room starring at her intently.  
  
"Really guys, I'm fine." Meru said quietly as she reddened with embarrassment. "Just go back to the party, I'll be extra energetic in the morning to make up for worrying you."  
"That Meru, is something we could live without." Miranda said getting up off of the chair near the desk and walking out.  
  
"We'll get you to a doctor's first thing in the morning to make sure you're alright." Albert said in a concerned tone.  
  
Meru looked down feeling upset suddenly, her vision blurred as her eyes became glazed over with tears, after blinking a few times realized she was staring at Albert's foot. "Albert, did you go flying today?"  
  
"Yes, why?" He asked standing up and ushering Dart, Shana and Haschel out.  
  
"Well..." Meru's garnet eyes focused on, a muddy purple shade of a sticky plaster like substance smeared over his black dress shoes. "There's Dragon shit on your foot." At this remark both Albert and Emille glanced down at his foot.  
  
Emille's face took on a look of disgust. "You stepped on my toes how many times when we were dancing?" She asked glancing down at her own shoes and the dark smudges against the opal colour they had been. "Albert!" She called before getting up and walking off, Albert frowned then followed her.  
  
"Meru, get better?" Kongol asked in broken speech.  
  
"You bet I will!" Meru half shouted cheerfully. Kongol nodded to her before stooping through the doorway and thudding off down the hallway, leaving Meru to sit up for the rest of the night, pondering over her latest dreams, and when her next chance to visit the library might be.  
  
Author's note: Thanks to all those who bothered to read, sorry that it's so short. Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review! 


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